Don Romano resigns as Mazda’s North American marketing boss

The resignation of Mazda's North American marketing boss, Don Romano, took effect on July 3. Romano, the chief marketing officer for Mazda North American Operations, was with Mazda for 12 years. Romano, who is 51 years old, also served as Mazda Canada Inc. president. The replacement of Romano is Shusuke "Kory" Koreeda, who served as the executive vice president of Mazda Canada.

Jay Amestoy, Mazda's vice president of public affairs, confirmed Romano's resignation. Romano would be the highest-profile executive to step away from Mazda since the company had started to restructure its North American operations last March. 107 of Mazda’s employees who accepted voluntary buyout packages were released on July 2.

Mazda extended offers to all of its 701 U.S. employees in March, including separation pay, a lump-sum payment according to years of service, and assistance in finding a new job. It’s not clear at this point what had triggered Romano’s decision to resign.

Amestoy said that the buyout offers and Romano's resignation were not related but he chose not to elaborate. He said that the company will be announcing the possible replacement in the future. Mazda dealers were surprised by Romano’s resignation.